[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3639-3640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I rise today in observance of the 181st 
anniversary of Greece's independence and to pay tribute to the heroic 
Greek patriots who, against tremendous odds, ended nearly 4 centuries 
of oppressive foreign domination of their homeland. This arduous 
struggle continued for eight years, until 1829, when independence was 
secured and the first steps were taken toward the establishment of the 
modern Greek state. Just as the founders of the new American nation 
looked to ancient Greece for inspiration and instruction, barely a 
generation later, Greek patriots took inspiration from the American 
Revolution, seeing in its success a promise of their own future. The 
reigning monarchies of Europe were universally skeptical of the 
uprising in Greece, but in the newly independent United States, it won 
overwhelming sympathy.
  For nearly 200 years, the American and Greek peoples have shared a 
profound commitment to democratic principles, and both have worked to 
create societies built on these values. In the two World Wars that 
devastated the last century, Greece fought heroically in the allied 
struggles for freedom and democracy. Similarly, during the cold war, 
Greece was a bulwark against totalitarian aggression and emerged as a 
democratic nation with a vigorous economy, a strong partner of the 
United States, and a full member of both NATO and the European Union. 
This progress is manifested by the fact that Greece will host the 2004 
Olympic Games. Likewise, Greece's presence in the Balkan and Eastern 
Mediterranean, as the only member of the European Union in those 
regions, enables it to play a stabilizing role and serve as a model for 
other nations in that area as they seek to establish stable democratic 
institutions and modern economic systems.
  The U.S.-Greece partnership has also been strengthened many times 
over by

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the distinctive contributions which Greek Americans have made to every 
aspect of life in our nation--in the arts, in business, in science, and 
in scholarship. As Greek Americans have made this remarkable progress, 
they have also preserved important traditional values of hard work, 
education, and commitment to family and church--principles that 
strengthen and invigorate our communities.
  Greek Independence Day therefore provides us with an appropriate 
moment to reflect on the many ways in which the past and the future are 
knitted together. As we recall the long ago events of March 25, 1821, 
we are mindful of the courage and sacrifice of those who worked and 
struggled to build the democratic institutions that are the guarantors 
of freedoms for not only the Greek, but for peoples throughout the 
world. We both rejoice in and revere these institutions, and we take 
this occasion to commit ourselves once again to preserving and 
strengthening them for generations yet to come.

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